The Root of Evil
by incensedance
Summary: Loki and co. are invited to a mansion in the middle of the mountains to look for a hidden fortune along with other detectives, including Mouri Kogoro! Crossover with Detective Conan and Magic Kaito.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own anything even vaguely familiar.

Summary: Loki and co. are invited to a secluded mansion in the middle of the mountains to look for a hidden fortune along with other detectives, including Mouri Kogoro! Crossover with Detective Conan and Magic Kaito.

A/N: I really don't know why I wrote this. I thought of it after reading another fanfic. I haven't thought of what is going to happen, if you have any ideas, please tell me.

The Root of Evil

"Loki-kun!" an energetic pink-haired girl rushed into the Enjaku Detective Agency. "Loki-kun!" she called again, barging into a large study.

"What is it, Mayura?" a boy with light brown hair and startling emerald eyes said from behind a desk where he was reading a book. His eyes did not look up from the book, as if he were already used to this kind of intrusion.

"Do we have any clients?" Mayura asked.

"No." Loki said curtly. He still did not look up. Mayura's face fell in disappointment, but then she perked up again.

"Ne, Loki-kun, why don't we play a game?" she asked.

"Play with Yamino-kun. He has nothing to do anyways." Loki said absently.

"Please!" Mayura said beseechingly. Loki looked up and saw the puppy dog look she was giving him. She was good, even better than Fenrir. Sighing in defeat, Loki agreed. Mayura jumped up and hugged him then gave him a kiss on his cheek, causing him to blush furiously.

Suddenly, there was a ringing sound. "That's the doorbell." Loki commented. "The doorbell?! Yay! Finally, some clients!" Mayura jumped up and ran for the door, completely forgetting about the game she was going to play with Loki.

"Coming!" she cried, running down the stairs. But when she opened the door, no one was there. "Eh? Where did our customer go?" Mayura said disappointedly. Loki bent down to pick something up. It was a letter. A letter with faint traces of Jaki.

TBC

A/N: so how do you like the beginning? School just started, so sorry if I can't update more often. I've already started on chapter one!


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter one

Disclaimer: I don't own Matantei Loki or Detective Conan, only the OC's, which I don't really like much.

"Let's open it!" Mayura said, not wanting to wait any longer, and she ripped the letter open before Loki could stop her. To his relief, nothing popped out of it, and Mayura did not die or get possessed by anything.

"Hello, Enjaku Detective Agency, you are invited to come to the house of the Takahashi family. Please be in front of the airport by two o'clock where you will be picked up by a family member who will lead you to my luxurious mansion where you will be staying for free. You may bring two other people. The case will be explained when you arrive." Mayura read. "Fushigi Mystery! Have you ever heard of the Takahashi family?" she asked. Loki shook his head.

"Maybe it's a family from the criminal world, that's why they are so mysterious! Or Maybe they have a dark secret that they have kept hidden for hundreds of years, and that's why they need detectives!" Mayura said, sighing blissfully.

"I hope it is only that." Loki muttered under his breath. He had a bad feeling about this case.

"Let's tell Yamino to start packing immediately!" Mayura said, sauntering back into the house.

Meanwhile, somewhere else in Japan, in another detective agency, another detective had just received a similar message. "What's this? An invitation?" Mouri Kogoro looked at the letter on his desk.

"Wow! We can stay at a luxurious mansion! And we can bring Conan too!" Ran said happily, "Accept it, Otousan!"

"Hmm, but I've never heard of a Takahashi family with a big mansion before. It looks really suspicious." Kogoro said.

Behind them, Conan was listening too. He was also interested in this mysterious letter. The Takahashi thing was all too suspicious. Just another reason to accept who knew if they had a relationship with the black organization or not. "Yes, let's go!" he said, sounding like any innocent ked wanting to spend time in a lavish mansion for free, "And there will probably be lots of pretty ladies there!"

"Conan!" Ran said disapprovingly, but the boy's words had the intended effect. "Yes! I will accept it! Wait for me, beautiful ladies!" he crowed.

"Otousan! All you think about is girls! And you've already married before!" Ran scolded, but she didn't sound angry. Who would if they were about have a free trip to a nice mansion where they could do almost whatever they wanted?

"The letter says to be at the airport at two o'clock tomorrow. Let's start packing!"

Hakuba Saguru, teenage detective was puzzled over the strange letter he had received in the mail that morning. It was a strange client, but it sounded interesting. He would probably accept. Now all he needed were the two others. Who should he choose… decisions, decisions.

"What are you reading, Hakuba-san?" Aoko asked curiously, seeing his slight frown.

"He's probably reading some love letter from one of his fan girls." Kaito said, coming over too. He grinned mischievously as Hakuba scowled at him. "Look, the tantei-san is being shy!" he teased, causing Hakuba to scowl harder. One day he would prove that Kuroba Kaito was Kaito Kid.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through Hakuba's mind and he smiled evilly. Kaito saw the expression on his face and backed away slowly. Sometimes Hakuba frightened him.

"Aoko, I have a proposition." Hakuba said. He told her about the invitation, then asked if Kaito could come too. Kaito looked at him disbelievingly. He did not know what the other boy was planning. Aoko, however, agreed instantly and told Kaito how wonderful it would be.

Smiling, Hakuba leaned back and relaxed.

TBC

A/N: so how do you like the first chapter? It's my first long fanfic over 300 words, so sorry if it's bad. Also, I can never finish long fanfics so sorry if I forget about this for a while.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I don't own except the hateful OCs.

"I don't wanna do this!" Loki pouted, sounding like a child, which he technically was at the moment.

"You have to, Loki-kun, how else are we going to get to the airport? Why don't you like cars anyways?" Mayura said.

"But I get carsick! Why can't we just walk like we always do?" Loki asked.

"But then we would be late! Think about the luxurious mansion! And the fushigi mysteries!" Mayura started getting starry-eyed, and she grabbed Loki and stuffed him into the car, followed by Yamino who was carrying all of the luggage and Fenrir.

The door closed behind them, blocking Loki's only escape route, and the car started moving. Loki was lying on his back with swirls in his eyes for the whole entire trip.

After half and hour, which seemed like an eternity to some people, they arrived at the airport.

"See, Loki-kun, that wasn't so bad!" Mayura said cheerfully as she jumped off the taxi. When she didn't get an answer, she looked back to see that Loki had lost consciousness.

"Loki-kun fell asleep! He's so cute!" Mayura said, smiling. She picked him up because she did not want him to wake up and turn back into the usual, mystery-hating Loki that he usually was.

She walked into the airport happily anticipating the upcoming mystery.

Half of Kaito's attention was on Aoko, who was ramble about some girl thing from her friends, but the other half was thinking about the trip. He didn't have any heists planned, so there was nothing to worry about, and yet he had an uneasy feeling about this whole trip. It seemed too good to be true. The last time Hakuba got invited to a house, it had been a trap.

"Are you even listening?" Aoko demanded, jolting Kaito out of his thoughts.

"O-of course!" he said.

"Then what did I just say?"

"……"

"I thought so." Aoko crossed her arms and glared at Kaito.

"Well I know it was one of your pointless girl things." Kaito said defensively.

"They are NOT pointless!!" Aoko was mad now. But fortunately, before Aoko could start pummeling Kaito, they arrived at the airport.

"Here we are. Now the letter says to wait right here outside the airport." Hakuba said.

Kaito perked up a bit and started looking around, hoping to see the mysterious person behind the anonymous letter. There was another group of people standing next to them, consisting of a small boy, a girl with pink hair, and a man who looked to be in his late teens.

The little boy appeared to have just woken up and was in a bad mood, and he was arguing about something with the girl. The said girl had unusual pink hair up to her waist and even stranger light crimson eyes. Right now, she was frowning and saying "Mou, Loki-kun, you're so stubborn!"

The oldest person, who was most likely their brother, was holding all of the luggage. There was also a small black dog on the ground barking at him. "Hai, hai, but there's nothing to eat around here." The man said, as if talking to the dog, which barked louder, then sat down with its tail low and looking disappointed as dogs can.

Overall, there was no suspicious people who looked like they could be the mysterious person.

Aoko was talking to him again, and he decided to listen this time, just to keep her from trying to hit him again. "Where is the person who was going to pick us up? He's late…" she said, and his attention drifted away again.

Suddenly, a familiar face appeared in the crowd. Kaito's eyes opened wide and he groaned inwardly. Why did he have to meet _him_ out of all the people in the world?

Conan, Mouri Kogoro and Ran were at the airport waiting for someone to pick them up. Conan looked around curiously, wondering where the person was. His eyes fell on another group of people beside him. A pink-haired girl and a boy about his size with green eyes and brown hair were arguing.

Next to them was a ma in his late teens with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and glasses. For some reason he was holding all of the luggage. It looked heavy. Beside him there was a black dog, which was probably their pet.

Passing over the group, he noticed another group. There was one familiar face there, Hakuba, the English detective they had met once before. Conan wondered what he was doing here. He saw another boy standing beside the detective give him a strange look, but then the boy's face returned to normal and he looked away, as if he had never seen the little boy.

But before Conan could contemplate more on this, a young woman approached them. "You must be Mouri Kogoro, Loki and Hakuba Saguru." She said. All of the people looked up at her and in surprise and nodded.

The woman, who was actually very pretty, smiled. "Well I am Miyako Takahashi, and I will be your guide today." She said.

TBC


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: see chapters before.

"Well I am Miyako Takahashi, and I will be your guide today." She said.

"I'm Mouri Kogoro! It's nice to meet you!" Mouri went up and shook her hand, hiding the lecherous look on his face with a big bow. You could almost see the dirty thoughts in his head. Even Hakuba and Loki sweatdropped.

Loki studied the woman carefully. She looked to be in her mid twenties, and she had shoulder length dark brown hair and the same colored eyes. She was wearing a casual shirt and a light pink skirt that went past her knees. At her neck there was a thin golden chain that disappeared into her shirt. She also had small golden earrings in the shape of stars dangling from her earlobes. There was no trace of Jaki on her at all, and Loki wondered if the traces on the letter had been imagined. But there was definitely something wrong about the woman, though Loki couldn't figure out what it was.

Conan was also inspecting the woman closely. He didn't see unusual about her, but she was strangely familiar. He had the feeling that there was something wrong with her.

But before any of them could speak, she had already taken up one of Yamino's suitcases. "Follow me; the private airplane is waiting over here."

At the mention of an airplane, Loki turned pale and all thoughts of the woman flew from his mind. He hated cars, but they were nothing compared to airplanes.

"No, I won't go on the plane." He said stubbornly, but no one listened to him. Mayura dragged him over and soon they were flying above the city. Now Loki's eyes were extra big swirls. Surprisingly, Miyaku was flying the plane.

"Here we are." The plane landed in a grassy clearing. The passengers got out of the plane and found themselves looking at a huge mansion. It had about five floors and tons of windows all around the house. But for some reason, there was a sinister feel about the building. Loki, who had woken up, frowned slightly. There was a faint residue of Jaki around the mansion, but he could not identify the source.

"This is my house, the Takahashi mansion." Miyaku said, "We have owned this house for generations."

"It's so big!" Mayura said, her voice filled with awe. "I bet there are tons of fushigi mysteries in there! Like secret passages! And lots of ghosts! And hidden treasures!"

Miyaku smiled, but didn't say anything. "Please come in, my father is waiting for you." She said, opening the door.

They walked into a house that was even more impressive than the outside. The main hall was huge, taking about three floors, and there were giant chandeliers, made of glass and crystal weaved into intricate designs, hanging from the ceiling. The walls were filled with tapestries and paintings, showing things like parties and hunting in the old European style.

"Sugoi!!" Mayura said. Aoko and Ran were delighted too, and they ran around with Mayura looking at the decorations. Even Hakuba, Kaito and Mouri Kogoro were impressed.

Loki simply looked around with mild interest, trying to find any other hints of Jaki. There were none.

"Yamino-kun, do you feel anything strange about this place?" Loki asked.

"No, I feel nothing out of the ordinary." Yamino said. He looked at Loki with concern. "Maybe the plane ride made you disorientated?"

"Of course not!" Loki snapped, not wanting to relieve the painful memory.

Miyaku interrupted their conversation and the girls' squeals of awe by saying that their guest rooms were upstairs. They followed her to the second floor and arrived in a large hallway with old-fashioned candleholders with candles flickering in them on the walls instead of lights. "The guest rooms are the rooms on the right side of the hallway. And all the rooms have double beds." Miyaku said. "I have to see my father now. I'll come back later too check if you are all settled."

There were four rooms on that side. "I get this room!" Loki said, running into the room closest to the stairs.

"But there are only four rooms." Mayura complained.

"There are nine of us and five rooms. That means at least two people to a room." Conan said.

In the end, they agreed that Loki, Conan and Fenrir would sleep in the first room, Ran, Aoko and Mayura would share a room, Yamino and Kaito would share a room, and Hakuba would sleep in the same room as Mouri Kogoro. (A/N: poor Hakuba:P)

"What?! Why do I have to sleep with that obasan?" Hakuba complained, but he was outvoted (no one wanted to be with Kogoro when he snored) and had to be content with muttering under his breath.

Trying to calm the atmosphere, Yamino said, "I just realized that we haven't introduced ourselves yet."

"Oh yeah, I'm Mayura Daidoji, and this is Loki-kun and Yamino-san. We're from the Enjaku Detective Agency." Mayura started by introducing them.

"I'm Ran, and this is my dad, Mouri Kogoro. Conan-kun is living at our house because his parents travel a lot." Ran introduced her group.

"I'm Aoko, and this is Kuroba Kaito. He's evil, so don't get near him if you don't want your skirt lifted." Aoko said.

"I resent that. It's not true, you know. You're the only one I'm interested in, Aoko." Kaito smiled a dazzling smile at her, which caused her to blush then try to hit him.

"My name is Hakuba Saguru. I've heard about you, Mouri-san." Hakuba said. (A/N: in my story they haven't met yet.)

"Really, haha, of course!" Kogoro laughed his really annoying laugh (you know, the one where his tongue sticks out) and tried to look modest but failing utterly.

"I don't like the way you have to look like you're asleep every time you solve a mystery. It's utterly pointless and makes you look strange." Kaito said, smirking. He had guessed who was really solving all of the cases.

Kogoro stopped in mid-laugh and glared at Kaito. "What do you know, boy. Kids these days have no respect for their elders." He walked away, headed towards his own room. Conan snickered behind his hand.

Suddenly, the air was shattered by an ear-piercing scream.

TBC

A/N: it's a cliffhanger! Come on, everyone has to write one in their life! But I bet you can guess what's going to happen. 


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Disclaimer: see first chapter.

Warning: violence in this chapter. If you can't stand stuff like blood, don't read.

Suddenly, the air was shattered by an ear-piercing scream. "Miyaku!" everyone recognized the voice.

"It came from upstairs." Hakuba said as they all rushed towards the staircase. On the third floor, they found Miyaku sitting on the floor outside a room, her eyes wide with horror staring at something in the room.

"Miyaku! What's wrong?" Mouri asked as he arrived.

Miyaku remained silent, her eyes wide and her pupils dilated with fear. The detectives looked into the room and they gasped in unison. The room was a mess; the curtains were shredded, the walls scratched, and the furniture destroyed. And the whole room was bathed in red.

The source of all the blood was lying in the middle of the floor, a man covered in red, with his eyes wide and staring and his face twisted with pain and terror. There was a moment of silent disbelief as everyone registered what they were seeing. Then one of the girls screamed.

Everyone seemed to snap out of their trance. Kogoro rushed in to check the victim. He put his hand to the man's neck then shook his head.

"None of you can come into this room. We have to preserve the crime scene." Hakuba said. "You go call the police." He told Yamino, who rushed off to obey. Kaito took the girls back downstairs to calm down and recover from their distress.

On the other hand, Loki and Conan had disobeyed him and run into the room.

_There's nothing unusual about this room, except for the fact that it is all messed up. I wonder why the murderer had to wreck the room like this._ Conan thought. He looked at the floor. Something shinning caught his eye. He ran over and picked up a small golden tear-shaped pendant that was about the size of the pendants on charm bracelets. _A pendant…_

Loki was not looking on the floor. He felt the unmistakable presence of Jaki in the room. Coming up to the body, he frowned at the state it was in. although he had seen many dead bodies in his life before, they still gave him shivers. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to something in the floor.

"Hey, what are you two doing in the room?! Get out!!" Kogoro shouted, kicking Conan and Loki out of the room.

"What a violent person." Loki commented. "I don't envy you for living with him." He said to Conan.

"You have no idea." Conan replied, thinking about Kogoro's other traits that were less than respectable.

"The victim has been dead for about two to three hours. He died from blood loss. Apparently his throat was cut open and he was left to die." Kogoro said. "And there seems to be a message on the floor." He bent down to inspect it, and Conan and Loki took the chance to run back into the room and get a better look at it. Hakuba didn't say anything, but he came in too.

"The dancer of the night…? What does that mean?" Kogoro asked, reading the message that was written in blood.

"It's the victim's death message. It must mean something." Hakuba said. There was a moment of silence as three of the detectives pondered the message.

"Why don't we just ask Miyaku?" Loki said after he saw that they weren't going to speak anymore. "After all, it's her house."

"………"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Loki didn't wait for them and ran down the stairs. The others followed him.

"Are you okay?" Loki asked Mayura as he walked into the room. Mayura didn't answer. Suddenly, Yamino came running up the stairs. "All the telephone lines are cut!" he shouted.

"What!?" Kogoro and Hakuba exclaimed simultaneously.

"How is this possible!? We were all here; none of us could have gone down and cut the lines." Kaito said. He looked at Conan, hoping that the small detective could think of a reason, but the boy was deep in thought, and did not notice his gaze.

Miyaku had calmed down a bit, and Mouri told her that the man was dead. "That was my father." She sobbed. "He was waiting for me to bring you back, but…"

"There was a message written in blood by your father before he died." Loki told her. "It was 'the dancer of the night'. Do you have any idea what that means?"

At Loki said the words, Miyaku's face became even whiter than it was a moment before. "So it's true…" she whispered so softly none of them could hear.

Everyone looked at her in concern. She was so pale she was almost white, and her hands were shaking uncontrollably. "Is it because we're searching?"

"Miyaku, what are you talking about?" Yamino asked.

"There is a…a curse on this house." She said, shivering. "And when it starts, no one can escape!"

A/N: I know, another sort-of cliffhanger. I like them, so you'll just have to get used to it. Also, I'm posting this at twelve o'clock at night so I expect to get a considerable amount of reviews!


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Disclaimer: see first few chapters

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but I have had so much stuff to do once school started. Thanks for all the reviews. I am trying to make the chapters longer, but I don't really have time since school started and all. Maybe the next chapter will be a bit longer.

"There is a…a curse on this house." Miyaku said, shivering, "And when it starts, no one can escape!"

At her words, everyone caught their breath. "What curse?" Mayura asked, her interest caught.

"The night dancer sleeps in the forests surrounding the house and will destroy anyone who tries to disturb her. I thought it was just a legend, but-" she stopped, remembering her father.

"How did your father try to disturb her?" Mayura asked. She realized her mistake immediately as Miyaku turned even paler, if possible.

"Maybe you should start from the beginning." Kaito suggested, handing her a glass of water.

Miyaku took it and drank thankfully, then started again. "The reason we called you over was to find a treasure hidden in this house. A long time ago there was a man with a great fortune and when he died he hid all of his treasure somewhere no one could find. He only left a map and a warning to anyone who wanted to find it.

"The warning was this: Beware the seekers of my gold, you will fall before the dancer. In the dark of night the fate foretold, will befall you greedy souls." (A/N: sorry, I really suck at poetry. At least it sort of rhymed.)

As Miyaku said these words, there was a sudden crash of thunder, and all lights in the room went out. Suddenly, it was pouring outside. "That's strange; it was sunny when we came." Yamino said to himself. Aoko and Ran yelped in fright and clung to Kaito and Conan. "Continue, I think we should hear the complete story." Hakuba said to Miyaku. She nodded.

"My family stumbled across this secret a few generations ago. This place matched the place on the map, so we built a house here in hopes of finding the treasure. But then something terrible happened that caused them to move out again." Miyaku shivered again.

"What happened?" Mayura asked, her interest in the story overcoming her fear of the recent murder.

"People started dying." Miyaku said. Everyone's eyes opened wide, but Miyaku didn't seem to notice and continued in a soft voice, as of she was afraid that it would happen again if she said it too loud. "The first one who died was the father of the family. He died of a wound to the throat." There was a brief pause as they all digested this piece of information.

"They all met their ends in strange and mysterious ways." Miyaku's voice became softer as she continued, until it was almost inaudible over the sound of the thunder. The lightning lit up her face and caused shadows to dance over her eyes and made her look almost like a spirit.

"The only one who survived was the youngest son, who was away on a business trip. When he came back, he only found bodies. And on the wall, he saw-" she broke off, unable to continue.

"What was it?" Mayura asked. "What did he see?"

Miyaku took another sip of water and a deep breath before continuing. Now there was cold sweat breaking on her forehead. "He saw words on the wall, written in blood red letters. The words read: Beware the Night Dancer."

There was a silence as everyone contemplated what she said. Mayura was the first one to break the silence. "Fushigi Mystery!" she explained. Everyone felt like they would sweatdrop if the situation wasn't so serious. Loki sighed; Mayura would be fascinated with anything supernatural.

"Well, I seriously doubt that it was the night dancer, or whatever you call her, who murdered them. It must have been a human. Ghosts don't exist." Hakuba said.

"Really?" Loki asked, his eyebrows raised. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." He smiled his trademark smile. There was something about the way he smiled, or was it the way he showed his sharp canine teeth, that made Hakuba lose the urge to argue back.

Instead he turned back. "Well, I'm going back to my room. There is no use in sitting around telling ghost stories in a time like this. We can take the plane back to the airport tomorrow after the storm clears up." With that, he walked out of the door.

"Wait, Hakuba, don't you think that we should stick together?" Aoko asked, but the door had already shut behind the detective.

"Don't worry about him, that brat can take care of himself well enough." Kaito said, rolling his eyes. "You really should get some rest. Let me take you back to your room." He said to Miyaku, who nodded gratefully. They left the room too.

"Well, maybe we should get back to our rooms too?" Yamino said. "I will see if there is anything that I can make in the kitchen."

"And I'll look around for more clues. You girls take the kids back to their rooms and make sure no one leaves." Mouri instructed.

"Hai." All three of the girls had mostly recovered from the scary story, and they were back to normal, albeit a bit paler than they had been before.

All thoughts of a peaceful summer had fled with the discovery of the body and the arrival of the storm. Now all they could do was stay and their rooms and wait for the next victim.

TBC

A/N: that was longer than the last chapter wasn't it? Thank you for all the reviews! I'll try to update soon! 


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: sorry for the very long wait. There is a reason behind this (besides the fact that I am lazy). My computer broke down and I lost all the information on it. I'm too lazy to retype it, so I've been procrastinating, something I am very good at. To make up for it, I made this chapter longer. : )

Disclaimer: don't own anything

Chapter Six

Mayura, unable to satisfy her curiosity of the 'fushigi mystery' with waiting in her room, decided to go exploring. Leaving the other two girls in the room, she walked out into the hallway. "Where should I explore first?" she said to herself. "The basement or the attic?"

"How about the attic." someone said from behind her. "Aiyee!" she jumped in surprise and some fear. "It's just me, calm down." She turned around to see Kaito, smiling at her playfully.

"The attic?" she asked, remembering his words before.

"Hai, Miyaku said it was where the message was found, and I bet there are a lot of mysterious things in there. We can't let the detectives do all the interesting things." Kaito said, smiling again. Mayura nodded earnestly, "Then to the attic it is." She started off up the stairs, followed by an equally enthusiastic Kaito.

On the landing at the top of the stairs, they found an old wooden door painted dark blue that had faded to grey over time. There was a hole where the handle had been, and they had no problem getting it open.

Beyond the door, they found a dusty room that seemed like no one had been in it since the house was built. There were cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and at least three inches of dust on the floor of the room. There were large shapes, furniture and boxes covered with cloth, they realized, all over the room. In the dim light from a grimy window, the furniture looked ominous, the shadows looking like apparitions moving around.

Mayura instinctively leaned closer to Kaito, who didn't seem to notice and stepped through the door without a second thought. His footsteps were muffled by the thick layer of dust on the wooden floor, and Mayura followed, thinking of all the wonderful things that could be under the cloths.

"I wonder what's here." She said, tugging on a strangely-shaped cloth. This was a grave mistake, for the dust had collected for years on the things in the room, and Mayura had to retreat coughing to avoid being covered in grime.

"Are you okay?" asked Kaito, walking up to her.

"F-fine." She replied, sneezing. "I found something of interest over there." Kaito informed her, pointing. Mayura looked in the direction he was pointing in, and she caught sight of something that looked like a large smudge on the opposite wall.

"Eh? What is that?" she asked

"I believe it is words, though I can't tell what they say." Kaito said.

"Really? A mystery!" Mayura said, running up to the wall. "It's only covered in dust." She said. She raised her hand to wipe it away.

After several minutes of coughing and waving, the dust finally settled. "It says," Mayura scrutinized the words that were faded with age yet still bright crimson, "Beware… the… Night… Dancer… Fushigi Mystery!"

Loki was quietly reading a book on his bed while Conan pondered the case. At least Loki seemed to be reading a book. In truth, his mind was wandering off, and he kept remembering the faint traces of Jaki all throughout the house, including in his own room. He would have to talk to Yamino and Fenrir about this and tell them to keep an eye out for anything unusual.

Conan was studying the pendant he had found at the scene of the crime. It was shiny but worn, as if many people had handled it before. The design was simple, a ring with a curved band across the middle and a small half-circle shape under the line.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Mayura appeared in the doorway. She was panting but had a large smile on her face. "Come quickly, we found something of importance!" she declared.

"Huh?" Loki and Conan had no time to process her words before she was dragging them both out of the room by their arms. "Hurry up, it's very important!" she said. They followed her to the attic, where the others were already waiting.

Mouri and Hakuba were already examining the words. "Beware the Night Dancer…" Loki read. He could feel Jaki coming from the words, but it was old and relatively harmless. What worried him more was the feeling of newer, more dangerous Jaki coming from somewhere inside the room. He thought he could pinpoint it to one of the large lumps of furniture in the room. Without saying anything to the others, he went to investigate.

The detectives examined the wall, hoping to find some clue regarding their present case. "Wait, I think there is more writing underneath." Conan said, pointing to a section of the wall a foot under the writing.

"Yeah, there is!" Ran said, bending down to get a closer look.

"Huh, that's strange. I don't remember seeing this. Do you, Kaito-san?" Mayura asked.

"No," Kaito replied, "But we probably overlooked it." These words were written in old-fashioned writing. They were older than even the ones above, and seemed to have been there since the house was built.

"It says," Ran brushed away more filth, and the words became clearer, "The treasure is on the horizon between day and night." She read.

"What does that mean?" Mouri asked.

"It's a clue to the treasure!" Mayura said ecstatically. "Fushigi mystery!"

"Maybe it was written there by the old man who hid away the treasure!" Aoko suggested.

"Yeah! And if we solve the puzzle, then we'll be able to get the treasure!" Ran added, smiling.

"But isn't this very strange?" Conan asked, frowning. "If the man left a warning and didn't want anyone to find his treasure, then why would he write this on the wall?"

"And why would he leave a map?" Hakuba asked. "This is all very weird."

"Well, I don't care what you kids think, I'm going to start searching." Mouri said, turning around to leave, straight into another cloud of dust. Loki had jerked the cloth of a piece of furniture, releasing noxious dirt into the air.

"What do you think you're doing!? Little brat!" Mouri growled as the air cleared. But Loki wasn't listening; instead, he was examining the thing that was uncovered. It was a portrait, a very beautiful portrait, yet when the others saw it, they couldn't help suppressing a shudder.

It was a portrait of beautiful young woman in a blue and black kimono, with ivory skin and delicate features that looked like they had been painted with the smallest brush possible. Her eyes were a very, very dark black, and expressionless, as if the woman had no soul. She was unadorned, except a gold pendant at her throat and two earrings, also gold, in the shape of butterflies. There was nothing else in the room except a window, which looked out onto the green forest and cerulean sky outside. Although it was just a picture, everyone got the feeling that it was staring straight at them.

Loki's eyes narrowed as he saw the picture. He could clearly feel a strong Jaki coming from the picture.

Being a famous detective known for his very acute observation skills, Conan immediately noticed that the pendant on her resembled the one he had found on the floor at the scene of the crime.

He was not the only one to notice something about the picture. "What is that stuff on the edge here?" asked Kaito. He pointed towards the corner of the picture, where there was something dark clinging to the picture frame. He touched it with his finger and suddenly drew his hand back, as if he had been shocked.

Dripping off his finger was a dark red, sticky liquid. "Is that…" Mouri asked, but he did not continue.

"Blood." Conan finished, recognizing it from years of experience.

There was a moment of silence, then, "Fushigi Mystery!"

TBC.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable characters.

A/N: sorry for the long wait. I haven't posted in almost a year because my computer crashed and I lost all the documents I had on it. After that, I was too lazy to rewrite the plot and all. But I got bored during summer vacation, and I finally managed to write the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter Seven

"Blood." Conan said, looking at the sticky red liquid.

There was a moment of silence, then "Fushigi Mystery!" Mayura exclaimed. All heads turned towards her. "It must be a ghost!" she exclaimed happily. "The ghost of the girl who died and is back to haunt the house!"

"There are no such things as ghosts!" Hakuba said angrily. Mayura withered under his glare.

Loki, who had been staring at the picture intently, turned to face them. "I think that Mayura could be right." He said, smiling. "It does look like a ghost." Mayura immediately cheered up at this statement, and she stuck out her tongue at Hakuba.

The English detective merely rolled his eyes and turned back to the situation at hand. "The blood is mostly dry, and I would say it has been here for a few hours." He announced. "That is about the same time Mr. Takahashi died."

"That means the murderer came here after he killed Mr. Takahashi." Mouri said. "Why would he do that?"

"Who knows." Kaito muttered.

"This seems to be a dead end." Mouri said in frustration, after no one could come up with any explanation to why the murderer would come up to the attic. "We'll search elsewhere for clues."

The guests filed out one by one, glad to leave the presence of the unnerving portrait. Loki was the last one to leave, and as he reached the stairs, he looked back at the portrait one last time. There was still a strong Jaki coming from the portrait, but it did not seem dangerous. Yet. Resolving to come back later, he reluctantly turned around and started down the stairs.

The rest of the day passed quickly as the detectives searched futilely for clues. At least they found that they would not starve, since there was a large amount of food stashed into the walk-in refrigerator in the kitchen, and Yamino busied himself with preparing the dinner.

After dinner, the guests decided to return to their rooms. "I'll go check up on Miyaku." Kaito said. Aoko glared at him, but he merely pretended not to notice. As he disappeared up the stairs, Aoko huffed and returned to her own room.

"I wonder what's wrong with her." Mouri said to himself as she stormed past. Conan and Ran both rolled their eyes.

It was the middle of the night when Loki finally decided to get up and check the portrait. He disliked waking up at night, but he knew he had to get to the portrait before whatever was emitting the Jaki started to become dangerous.

Creeping up the stairs and hoping Mayura had not decided to investigate on her own, Loki slowly opened door to the attic. He stared. The portrait which had been standing in a corner, was now gone!

_Looks like it decided to run before I could seal it_. Loki thought to himself. Sighing, he walked back down the stairs. There was nothing he could do now, except hope that he could track down the demon before it could hurt anyone. Besides, he really wanted to get back to bed. If it weren't for the stupid portrait, he would probably be dreaming of delicious pastries by now. Loki was so caught up in his thoughts about sweets that he did not notice two figures standing in a shadow waiting for him…

Kaito was awakened by a strange sound outside his door. It was a small sound, but it did not sound natural. On the other bed, Yamino was still fast asleep, muttering something about "Nii-sama" and "bad dog" in his sleep.

Deciding to see what it was first, he crept out of his bed and walked to the door. Opening the door a crack, he saw someone disappear upstairs. His heart beat faster as he realized that the person was headed towards the attic. Was the murderer returning to the portrait?

Kaito quickly made a decision and slipped out of his room, closing the door softly behind him. Soundlessly, he made his way towards the stairs, where he stood, waiting for the mysterious person to return.

But then, something cold brushed his shoulder ever so softly…

Hakuba could not sleep. The snoring of the man in the other bed was so loud that Hakuba wouldn't be surprised if the house suddenly collapsed from the noise. Idly, he wondered how Ran and Conan managed to live in the same house as him.

Suddenly, another sound caught his attention. It was the faint sound of a door opening and closing, then of footsteps on the stairs. Bored and unable to sleep, Hakuba stepped outside, closing the door very gently.

The mysterious person had gone upstairs already, and from the sound of it, he was going to the attic. Hakuba hid in the shadows, wondering whether to follow him or wait for him to return.

As he was contemplating this, another person caught his attention. It was Kaito, also sneaking out of his room. _Did he hear the footsteps too, or is he up to something?_ Hakuba wondered.

However, it was soon clear that Kaito had heard the footsteps as well, because he stopped at the bottom of the steps and waited. Hakuba slowly snuck up behind him, grinning.

He touched the phantom thief on the shoulder, causing the other boy to jump almost a foot into the air and look around wildly. When he saw that it was only Hakuba, he scowled and opened his mouth to say something.

Anticipating this, Hakuba put a finger to his lips and pointed upstairs. Kaito shut his mouth with and audible click.

Soon, the footsteps returned, but Kaito and Hakuba were ready. As soon as the person appeared, they pounced…

Loki suddenly found himself on the floor, squished beneath two heavy people. His face was pressed uncomfortably into the ground, and now he was really regretting going to see the portrait.

"Get off me!" he tried to say, but it came out as a muffled noise.

Hakuba and Kaito, who were the ones who had pounced on Loki, realized that something was not right. The mysterious person was too small to be an adult, and he was trying to say something. Getting off of the person, they found Loki glaring at them.

"What are you doing!?" he demanded, rubbing his face.

"What are _you _doing?" Kaito retorted.

"……" Loki was silent. He could not tell them that he had gone to look at the portrait, which he knew was full of Jaki, and he seriously considered erasing their memories.

Fortunately, he did not have to take this drastic measure, because suddenly they were all distracted. Unfortunately, the distraction came in the form of a scream issuing from the girls' room.

TBC


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Disclaimer: I own nothing at all. See first chapter for reference.

A/N: I'm so sorry! I haven't updated in years now! But sophomore year is so much harder than freshman, but that's not an excuse. Please forgive me! To make up for it, this chapter will be very long! And sorry if the characters seem a bit OOC, it's been a long time since I've watched either anime.

Aoko was dreaming. It wasn't exactly a pleasant dream, but it wasn't that bad either. In her dream, she was trapped in a ship that was slowly sinking underwater. She searched around wildly for an escape, but there was none. Instead, she found a figure dressed all in white, standing near the door. He held out a hand to her, and she took it, knowing in the way of dreams that he meant no harm.

The figure in white led her through the halls of the sinking ship, and she knew that they were avoiding something. But what? She didn't know.

Finally, they reached the deck, and Aoko felt her the bottom of her stomach drop as she was lifted into the air. For a brief moment, she gasped out loud as her breath left her in shock and the world fell away under her feet.

And then she was flying.

Above her, there were the two pure white wings of a handglider. She was holding tightly onto the figure in white, and their faces were so close that she could almost feel his breath on her. Her eyes widened in shock as she recognized the white top hat, the single monocle, and the cocky, mysterious smile. And what was more, she recognized the face underneath.

For some reason, she did not feel frightened, but strangely safe, even though she knew the one carrying her was an internationally wanted criminal who also happened to be her childhood friend.

"It's okay." The dream Kaito Kid said to her. "You won't remember this in the morning anyways. So enjoy it while you can."

"Don'e worry, baka. I will."

And Aoko dreamed on.

*~*~*

Mayura dreamed of donuts. Not just any donuts, chocolate glazed donuts. And not just regular chocolate glazed donuts, _flying _chocolate glazed donuts.

"Fushigi Mystery!" she exclaimed, watching one of the donuts do a loop-the-loop. It had cute, fluffy pink wings. And then suddenly the donut wasn't a donut anymore, but a person. Someone she recognized.

"Ehh!? Loki-kun, what did you do to my donut?!" she asked the green-eyed little boy.

"Mayura, I have something to tell you-"

"Sugoi, Loki-kun. You have wings!" the pink-fluffy wings of the donut were now his wings, and they were not pink and fluffy, but shining white. The boy sighed in exasperation.

"Never mind." and he turned around. Mayura suddenly had the feeling that he was leaving, and not coming back. She had the feeling that his had happened before, and she did not want it to happen again.

"Loki-kun!" she said, grabbing his hand. He stopped, turning to her in surprise. "Don't go." She muttered. His eyes widened. Then he smiled.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." She smiled at his reassurance. Then, "Ne, Loki-kun, can I have my donut back again?"

*~*~*

Ran was dreaming too, but hers was of a much different nature. Hers was a dream of running down corridors and opening doors, searching mindlessly, desperately, for someone. Deep down, she knew that the person she was searching for was no longer there, that he had gone somewhere far, far away, but she looked nonetheless.

And then, at the last door in the hallway, she suddenly stopped. Beyond, she knew that she would find something. Maybe it was the person she was searching for, or maybe it wasn't. Or, maybe it was someone she had known all along.

"Shinichi…"

Her hand paused over the handle, hesitating, unable for some reason to move forwards. But she knew that he had to know what was beyond.

Slowly, she turned the handle. Slowly, she pushed open the door. Beyond, she saw…

*~*~*

Loki was in the attic, and Kaito and Hakuba had yet to come out of their rooms. But in the room where the three girls were sleeping peacefully, the doorknob turned ever so softly. A dark figure crept inside, holding something in its right hand. It tiptoed to the side of the bed, to where the girls were sleeping.

Slowly and carefully, the figure lifted the hand, and cold steel glinted in the moonlight pouring from the window. Like a snake poised to strike, the hand was suspended in midair for a split second.

The pink-haired girl on the bed muttered something unintelligible in her sleep. The hand descended, bringing with it a certain death. And at the last moment, by some fortuitous turn of fate, the pink-haired girl rolled to the right. "Loki-donut…." She muttered in her sleep, a line of drool at the corner of her mouth.

The knife buried itself into the pillow, spewing white goose feathers like snow everywhere. Beside the pink-haired girl, Ran's eye's snapped open.

"Who's there!" she demanded, sitting up straight. Her eyes widened in shock and a gasp escaped her lips as she saw the feathers and the dark shape of the knife embedded in the bed, as well as the figure in the shadows that held the knife. Instinctively, she scrambled up, jumping off of the bed.

The attacker leaped back, pulling the knife from the pillow and releasing more feathers into the air. Ran's first impulse was to scream, but there was no time as the killer-to-be turned his—its attention on her, lunging with its knife-hand outstretched.

She grabbed at the figure's wrist, and for a moment of horror, she had the feeling that it was insubstantial, that her own hand would close on air and shadow. But to her relief, her hand grasped the warmth of a living being, one that could fight back and did so with an insane strength. For a few seconds, the two figures, Ran and the unknown transgressor, grappled for the knife.

During these few moments of struggle, another person on the bed opened her eyes groggily. Aoko froze as she saw the two shapes, one of which she recognized as Ran in her yellow pajamas, fought each other. But the other figure, not Mayura since the pink-haired girl was still sleeping soundly beside her, was not anyone she could identify.

She watched in shock and then horror as Ran lost the fight for the knife and tripped as her foot slipped from beneath her. A trail of blood appeared on her arm, where the knife had grazed her, the dark liquid sending chills down the spines of both girls. The assailant was strong, Aoko knew, and she also knew that she would stand no chance if Ran had lost. So she did the thing any girl in her position would, which was to scream at the top of her lungs, loud enough to wake the entire house.

The figure stopped in its tracks to stare in Aoko's direction. Ran took this chance to scramble to her feet into a crouched stance, her hands held up in front of her in a defensive position. Aoko screamed again, and the sounds of footsteps came from the hallway, accompanied with the worried voices of several other occupants of the house.

Hesitating no more, the figure made a dash for the door. It opened before the figure got there, revealing Hakuba, Kaito and Loki. "Ran! Aoko! Mayura!"

The figure took advantage of their surprise and brushed past, pushing the three of them roughly out of the way and disappearing down the hall in the direction of the stairs.

"Hey! Stop!" Hakuba, the first to react, started to chase the figure. The other two were more concerned with the girls inside, "Are you okay?" Kaito asked, rushing forward to help Ran up. The girl nodded mutely, but her hand clutched her arm, where the knife had cut through the thin fabric of her pajamas and broken the skin.

"How are you two?" Kaito turned his attention to Aoko, who had a hand on her chest, trying to calm her heartbeat. Mayura, he noted with some amusement, was still asleep, a thin line of drool at the edge of her mouth. How she could sleep through all of that was beyond all of them, perhaps just another one of her inexplicable quirks.

"I-I'm fine." Aoko muttered.

It was then that Mouri and Conan burst into the room, followed closely by Yamino and Fenrir. "Ran!!" Mouri was uncharacteristically worried, but he visibly sagged in relief as he caught sight of her, despite her paleness and slightly dazed look.

"Ran nee-chan! You're hurt!" Conan exclaimed, noticing the small drops of blood dripping from between her fingers and creating a stain on her pajama sleeve. "Huh?" Ran, for her part, looked at the bloodstain in confusion. She had not noticed getting hurt in the heat of the struggle, just the rush of adrenaline and the blood rushing to her head. Her fingers clutched her wounded arm so tightly they were white.

"Get a first-aid kit!" Conan ordered, his concern evident in his voice. Yamino left immediately in search for the medical kit he knew was in his room.

Loki sighed, knowing that there wasn't anything else for him to do; there was no trace of Jaki in the room, or in the hallways, so this must have been done by a person. Instead, he watched Conan ask Ran again if she was okay. A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth. He knew how the kid—for Conan was still a kid in Loki's eyes, even if he wasn't really eight years old—felt about the girl. It was kinda cute, something that Mayura would love, if she had been keen enough to realize the truth.

Speaking of the pink-haired girl, Loki walked over to the bed where she was still sprawled. She never ceased to amaze him with the seemingly impossible feats she accomplished, such as sleeping through the racket. But here she was, snoring away as if nothing had happened, a puddle of drool forming on her pillow.

His eyes softened at the sight of her. Though he had seen her as an annoyance the first time she came to his detective agency, she was now such a familiar part of his life that it would be hard to imagine solving cases without her. He wondered idly when she had grown so close.

"Loki-kun…"

The sudden sound of her voice drew him from his thoughts, and he looked up just in time to see her hand reaching for him. Unable to avoid her grasp, he found himself squished awkwardly in her arms, like a big teddy bear.

"Mayura!" he yelped in surprise.

"Eh?" her crimson eyes blinked open blearily. "What're you doin' here, Loki-kun?" she slurred, sitting up to rub the sleep from her eyes. She still held him with one hand, casually stuffing him under her arm as if she still hadn't realized he was not a plushie.

"Mayura!" he repeated, slightly annoyed. This was no way a respectable god should be treated, yet he felt strangely content. "Let go."

This time, she looked down to see where his voice was coming from. "EH!?" she exclaimed rather loudly, "Loki-kun, how did you end up here? This is the girl's bed!" Loki felt his face heating up, it was just like her to say the most awkward things. He tried to glare at Kaito as the teen tried to hide a poorly-disguised snicker.

"Ano…" To Loki's relief, Yamino arrived with the first-aid kit at that very moment, distracting everyone from the rather embarrassing scene. Loki took this chance to break free of Mayura's grasp, ignoring the twinge of longing as he slid lightly off the bed.

"Finally!" Mouri took no time in grabbing the kit from Yamino. "Took you long enough." He immediately started to treat his daughter's wound, as she protested that she could do it herself and that it was just a scratch.

"What do you mean it's just a scratch?" Mouri demanded angrily, "Some crazy $% bastard tried to kill you!"

"Dad! Not in front of the kids!" Ran snapped, glancing towards Loki—who was looking pointedly in the other direction—and Conan, who did not look away quickly enough.

"Ran-neechan, are you sure you're okay?" Conan asked again, trying to distract her enough for Mouri to hastily back away. Though his daughter was not violent by nature, she was still a black belt.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps heralded Hakuba's entry. "Sorry…couldn't find…that son of a-" he stopped short, silenced by Ran's glare. Seriously, were men all this foul-mouthed? At least Shinichi never used such language.

"Nani? What happened?" Mayura asked, looking around in complete confusion. "Did something happen while I was asleep?"

Loki could not help snorting softly, a quiet sound that nevertheless attracted Mayura's attention. "Ne, Loki, why didn't you wake me up? I'm disappointed in you!" Mayura pouted. Loki sweatdropped, he could have sworn those were tears in her eyes, "But I-"

What he was about to say next was cut off by her loud wails of "meany!"

"Ah, Mayura-san…" Yamino looked torn between helping his master or waiting for the pink-haired girl to calm down. Everyone else present sweatdropped, torn between rolling their eyes or laughing hysterically.

"Ano, what are we going to do for the rest of the night?" Aoko's tentative voice dragged everyone's mind back to the situation at hand. It was hardly practical to go back to sleep with a would-be murderer on the loose. The very thought made the girls, with the exception of Mayura, shudder.

"I suppose we could all stay in one room." Kaito suggested, earning him a glare from Aoko, who knew exactly what he was thinking. "Then at least one of us could keep watch." He added hastily, backing away slowly from his childhood friend.

"I agree." Mouri declared. There was no way he was letting his daughter out of his sight for the rest of the night.

"Alright," Ran sighed, "As long as it's not this room." She barely suppressed another shudder as she glanced again at the torn bedsheets and feathers spread everywhere.

"How about our room then?" Loki suggested, "It's right next door."

"Alright." Mouri said, "Let's go." And the group of wide-awake detectives started to make their way out of the room. Loki was the last to leave, and as he stepped out of the door, he frowned. Though he had not noticed it at first, there was definitely a hint of Jaki in the hallway, leading in the direction of the stairs.

"Loki-kun! What are you doing? If you stand there too long, the bad person will get you too!" Mayura had noticed that the boy had lagged behind and quickly corrected that by marching over, grabbing his hand, and pulling him back to the safety of their room.

"Mayura! I can take care of myself." Loki muttered. Mayura pointedly ignored this, going on about the 'fushigi mystery' that she always talked about. The boy sighed, knowing his words fell on deaf ears.

"Come on, we have to lock the door against the bad guy." Mayura said, ushering Loki into the room. Kaito waited until everyone was inside before shutting the door firmly, and locking it.

"We should be safe enough here." He said, giving a sigh of relief.

"I'll take first watch." Mouri volunteered; he wanted to make sure personally that bastard did not come back. No one objected, especially after seeing the looks he was shooting them.

"Let's go to sleep then." Yamino said, as brightly as he could manage. He was answered with half-hearted murmurs of consent, and everyone managed somehow to find a position that was not too awkward to recline.

But, despite the lateness of the hour and the fatigue from the latest events, no one, save Mayura, who still had no idea of what had occurred, managed to get a wink of sleep.

*~*~*

TBC


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Disclaimer: see first chapter

A/N: another long wait…I apologize. I've been busy with my other story and school work, but here it is! Chapter nine…please enjoy!

The next morning found the small group of detectives asleep, almost piled up upon each other, with nine people and one dog in a single room. The first one to wake was Yamino, who was accustomed to waking as soon as the first rays of light came through the room.

Quietly, so as to not wake the others, he rose from his rather uncomfortable half-curled position on the armchair (at least it was better than Kaito, who was half-falling off the window-sill where he had been unceremoniously dumped after foolishly suggesting that he sleep in the bed with the girls), dislodging Fenrir, who had been dozing on his lap and grumbled sleepily before flopping down on the carpet to continue his dead-log-like snoozing.

A brief glance showed that both Conan and Loki were comfortably ensconced in the blankets of the bed, sleeping soundly. As children, they had been allowed to share the soft bed with the girls, with the only disadvantage of being used as pillows or stuffed toys, not, Yamino mused, that Loki-sama would really mind.

A small smile appeared on Yamino's face, and he made his way towards the door. Though he had spent the whole night in an armchair, he still managed to look impeccable as always. It was, after all, the sign of a good butler to be prepared for every situation. Speaking of being prepared, everyone would probably be hungry when they woke, so he, being the good butler that he was, should start making breakfast. Time to do what he did best.

"Wait." As his hand touched the doorknob, a cool voice stopped him.

Yamino turned around rather quickly, slightly flustered. He had not noticed anyone awake besides himself. It was Hakuba, with his brown hair mussed and standing up from sleep but his eyes lucid, rising from his also awkward sleeping position on the couch.

"Ah, Hakuba-san…" Yamino said, slightly nervous under the young man's penetrating and somewhat intimidating glare. There was fleeting suspicion in those piercing blue eyes… "I was just going to make breakfast…" Yamino explained.

"No, what I meant was I should come with you." Hakuba said, "It's not safe to wander around this house alone. Unless you've forgotten that there's a killer out there."

"Of course." Yamino replied quickly, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "I thank you deeply for your consideration." _I completely forgot…_

Hakuba seemed satisfied with this answer, "Alright then," he announced, quietly enough so that none of the others woke and, in a slightly lower murmur, "I was getting hungry anyways."

"Ah, hai." Yamino unlocked the door with a small click, pushing it open into the hallway, which was even now filling with the morning's rays. The two entered the hall, the door clicking shut behind them.

*~*~*

Conan had woken as soon as Yamino had rushed into the room looking extremely flustered and babbling something unintelligible. It had taken a moment for him to calm the older man down with the help of Kaito who had also woken (Mouri sat by uselessly and watched, yawning), and a few more moments to realize that he was telling them that there was, apparently, a bloody knife stuck on the kitchen counter downstairs.

"Hakuba-san is still down there, examining the scene and gathering the evidence." Yamino concluded, pushing his glasses up nervously.

"We'd better go help him out a bit." Conan suggested. His eyes were narrowed, mulling over the possibilities in his mind.

"Nah, let Hakuba handle it. He _is_ the son of some British police officer, after all." Mouri said, with a dismissive wave of his hand, "I'm starving, what's there to eat?"

Yamino, still slightly distraught, murmured, "Gomen, I can't make any breakfast until he's done collecting the evidence…"

The prospect of missing breakfast brought a slightly panicked expression to the famous detective's face, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go help him!" he was halfway to the door before anyone in the room could blink.

Kaito and Conan exchanged exasperated glances, obviously considering themselves the only rational males in the room. "We're coming too." Kaito announced, standing up. He grabbed Conan's arm and dragging him towards the door, much to the smallest detective's chagrin.

Ran, who had also woken up, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, yawning. "They're all so energetic…" she mumbled, her speech still slurred with sleep. The few hours that she had gotten were definitely not enough. Aoko grunted with sleepy agreement beside her, "Let's go back to sleep. Just let them work on their precious mystery."

And suddenly, as if on cue, a pink blur shot up into a sitting position. "Nani? Nani? Did something important just happen?"

Ran and Aoko could only stare at Mayura, who had practically leapt out of bed with excitement, showed no signs of having been woken up traumatically in the middle of the night. She looked around, slightly confused, "Eh? Where is everyone?"

"Downstairs looking at a clue Yamino and Hakuba found." Ran told her.

Mayura's eyes widened, practically shining with anticipation, and Ran had the sinking feeling that she would soon regret telling the girl…

"A clue! Fushigi Mystery!"

And there went their chance for a quiet morning's sleep.

*~*~*

Loki's eyes twitched as they were hit by a ray of sunlight, and he rolled over instinctively without opening his eyes, murmuring "just ten more minutes, Yamino".

But instead of sinking into the comfortable warmth of sleep, he felt himself being shaken not-so-gently by someone. "Loki-kun! You have to wake up! There is another Fushigi Mystery!"

The bubbly voice sounded very, very familiar. Loki's green eyes snapped open, just in time to see a pair of crimson orbs two inches in front of his face. What was she doing in his bed…oh, wait. The memories of the previous night came flooding back, the unfruitful trip to the attic, the surprise attack in the corridor, and the crisis in the girls' room…

"Mou, Loki-kun, you have to get up right now!" Mayura insisted, her voice cutting through Loki's thoughts. There was an almost solemn look in her eyes, "Yamino-san and Hakuba-san just found another clue! They'll start without you if you don't hurry!"

"Mayura…" Loki sighed.

"Huh? What's wrong, Loki-kun?" She asked, concerned, "Don't you want to be the first to solve the mystery?"

"Would you please…let go of me now?"

Mayura looked down, catching sight of the place where she was still grabbing onto the boy's shoulders. Her face, she realized, was still inches away from his, close enough that she could almost feel his breath on her face. For some inexplicable reason, the second fact caused an embarrassed flush to creep onto her face.

"Eh-heh…" she laughed sheepishly, letting to quickly, "Gomen, gomen!" she apologized, her blush growing.

Loki stared at her, bemused. "Mayura, are you-"

"Ah-hah, it's nothing!" she chirruped quickly, "I, uh, have to go now. To see the new clue, since I'm the beautiful, smart detective's assistant. They can't do anything without me." She signed dramatically, as if exasperated by their 'incompetence'. And before he could register what she had said, she leapt nimbly off the bed and left the room.

Seeing the door slam shut with a bit more force than was necessary, Loki wondered what exactly was wrong with her this morning. Even though he was a god, girls were still so confusing! But she had said something about Yamino and the other person—Haku-something-or-other—finding another clue. Well, it seemed like things were finally getting interesting, not to say that they hadn't been so before.

Deciding that he should hurry in case someone incompetent such as the idiot-detective with the stupid-looking mustache (guess who XP) somehow destroyed it. Now, if he could only find his clothes…Loki sighed again. Where was his butler when he needed him?

*~*~*

TBC


End file.
